[Nfb-krafters-korner] (no subject)

[Jewel S.]

I'll kinda stick my big nose in here. I was a member of the SCA for 5
years. I have been considering if I would be capable of returning to
the group. After I lost my vision, I found it very hard to
participate, as very few people were willing to show me around and
even if I learned the layout of a site, it'd be different the next
time based on tent set-up. The only site I can count on being fairly
similar every year is Pennsic, but...that's at the same time of year
as the National Convention, which I plan on attending next year. Can't
do both...way too costly. I have considered doing an every-other-year
schedule between the two.

When I was in the SCA, though, I was an illuminator. A pretty good
one, if I do say so myself, and my Award of Arms and other awards
given because of my work as a scribe agree with my assessment of my
talent. After the injury that took my site, I was lost...scribing was
my whole life in the SCA! Most of my Scadian friends are scribes, and
I spent most of my time at events working on scrolls, seeing that
scrolls were ready for court, doing last-minute scrolls, or displaying
my work in competitions.

Now, I know there are other crafts I could do in the SCA, like
basketweaving, garb-making, woodcarving, and even embroidery (though
it wouldn't be the same for me, who did freehand embroidery based on
how I thought it would best represent fur, feathers, clothing,
etc)...but it is hard for me to imagine the SCA without scribing.

>From my experience, the SCA is a hard place for a blind person to fit
in. Most of the attendees are not disabled, though there are some
people using motorized scooters. I have not seen a single blind person
in the SCA in the five years I participated. The layout of sites is
absolutely a nightmare for the blind person. Tents are placed
according to size and space, not in any special layout, except for the
vendors, ropes and stakes are sticking out everywhere with only an
orange tie to warn peple, and travel to activities may be across a
field, a field and a road, through the woods, or any combination of
landscape.

If my health improved, I would love to return to fencing (I gave it up
after trying because of chronic pain and fatigue), but the problem
with a blind SCA fencer is that the combat area is rarely flat, often
has holes that fighters can twist ankles or fall over, and fencing is
done in a 3-D fashion, not the back-and-forth of Olympic fighting.
When I tried it before, I found I couldn't really wear my glasses
under the fencing mask, so I was very impaired in my vision before,
but I also often fell over holes in the ground, rocks, and lost sight
of my opponent, who may have retreated quite a distance.

Now, I'm not saying the SCA can't become a place that blind
participants would be welcome. I am only saying that it will be a
difficult road for anyone trying it now. They have silent heralds
(deaf interpreters) who are rarely used in Atlantia (the kingdom I
live in), but I have yet to see any accommodations for blind
participants. Some of the indoor sites (like schools for University)
did not even have Braille to mark the doors and I was scolded for
standing at the schedule book for too long (I was using my handheld
CCTV to copy my schedule, given to me in small-type print, onto
another paper with a 20/20 pen since, at the time, I had enough vision
to see that).

That is just my experience with the SCA. I would love to hear about
your experience, Terrence, and anyone else who has tried the SCA.

~Jewel

On 7/24/10, Marianne Denning <mdenning at cinci.rr.com> wrote:
> Terrence, what is your role in SCA?  I have been interested in SCA for many
> years but have never pursued it.
>
> Marianne Denning
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Terrence van Ettinger" <terrencevane at gmail.com>
> To: <nfb-krafters-korner at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, July 22, 2010 10:50 AM
> Subject: [Nfb-krafters-korner] (no subject)
>
>
>> Hello, all,
>> Just thought I'd go ahead and give you all a bit of an intro, having just
>> come on board last night.  I do a couple different crafts, mostly things
>> I've taken up in the SCA over the past 3 years, some of which I practice
>> fairly regularly, others I sort of dabble in.  My 2 most frequent craft
>> types are kumihimo braiding and lucet, though I am trying to pick up inkle
>>
>> weaving more consistently.  I also have a coiled basket that I've been
>> working on sporadically for some time now, and occasionally do a bit of
>> leather work.  I think I've leaned toward the cord-making methods so much
>> because of their portability.  For a while, I was a woodturner, before I
>> moved to take my current job, but that didn't work out for a number of
>> reasons.  I have also dabbled a bit in Origami, but it's been a while.
>> It's something I mean to pick up again at some point though and learn a
>> few more designs.  I'm looking forward to hearing from everyone and
>> perhaps picking up some new ideas.  And if anyone has questions about
>> anything I've mentioned, I'll be more than happy to explain/answer
>> anything.
>>
>> Terrence
>>
>> Twitter: www.twitter.com/terrencevane
>> Kingdoms Live Code: bgc5a6
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